


Ex_Machina

by casstayinmyass



Category: Ex Machina (2015), Supernatural
Genre: AI Jo, Alternate Universe - Fusion, Artificial Intelligence, Attraction To A Robot, Background Relationships, Based On The Movie Ex Machina, Bisexual Jo, Charlie-centric, Dick Is Creepy and Weird But Also A Genius, F/F, Femslash, Lesbian Charlie, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Protective Dean Winchester, Sexual Fantasy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 04:52:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6224716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/casstayinmyass/pseuds/casstayinmyass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A young programmer, Charlie Bradbury, is selected by genius billionaire Richard Roman to participate in a breakthrough experiment in artificial intelligence, by visiting his secluded house in the mountains and evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I. named JO.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I love this movie, and there were so many parallels I thought between this and Charlie and Dick Roman, so I wrote this :)

  

The grounds of Roman Enterprises had been buzzing with a surreal level of excitement for days, ever since the contest was announced. Richard Roman, who founded the company when he was sixteen, was holding a random draw to send one lucky employee of the company to his residence... which was thrilling as it was, since nobody knew where he lived spare for the people who were in charge of transportation.

Needless to say, Charlie Bradbury lost her chill when this somehow came upon her.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit."

The redhead stared, open-mouthed, at the screen in front of her, the words "CONGRATULATIONS!" screaming at her from the recently opened email. She had never won anything in her life... this had to be some sort of mistake.

"My gods, man," her friend said behind her, and Charlie whipped around to the cubicle behind her, where her blonde friend sat. The sign "Dr. Badass is In" hung beside his computer, he had a pencil holder shaped like a beer bottle, and he had a desk calendar with various patterns of weed leaves. Charlie sucked in a breath, fanning herself.

"Ash, I'm freaking out right now."

"As you should be, amigo," he said, shaking his head, "You're gonna get to meet the head of freaking Roman Enterprises! Man's a genius. Livin' the dream, dude... livin' the dream."

Charlie grinned, and couldn't help herself- she started squealing, making her desk and with it her Hermione bobblehead shake. Only did she stop when Gilda, the smoking hot tech support girl she had her eye on, came over and put her arm around Charlie.  

"Wow," she said in her pronounced, (remarkably zen, for the job she had) voice, "I'm so happy for you, Charlie. Take me with you," she added with a wink. Dorothy, another notorious hottie, also came over, giving her a little nod of approval with a smile. Charlie smirked. Not only was she getting a week with Dick Roman and a special insight into the company's "exciting new project", but this was seriously helping her status with the ladies.

She looked back to the email, where she checked the specs.

_Recipient: Charlotte Bradbury_

_Recipient's Occupation Within The Company: Programmer_

_Status: Winner_

_Prize Won: One week with Roman Enterprises founder, Richard Roman at his private estate_

_Location: Classified_

 it read, and Charlie raised her eyebrows.

“Sounds kinda sketchy, doesn’t it, H?” she whispered to her Hermione bobblehead.

The plastic figure seemed to nod, but Charlie shrugged. This was a real life adventure, and it started tomorrow.

"Sketchy-middle-of-nowhere-mansion? Here I come," she grinned, and saved the email.

-0-0-0-

"No way... you actually won the thingie?" Dean's doubtful voice came over Charlie's phone. He was breathing heavy, and Charlie assumed he had just been working out or something. She touched the speakerphone as she began preparing her celebratory dinner (microwave lasagna Alfredo) and smiled.

"Yup, I totally won the thingie. Got the email today- not even faking or anything, I can send you the proof," she beamed.

"It's probably spam," her brother in-law, Cas, commented. He sounded just as out of breath as Dean.

"Thanks so much, Cas," Charlie deadpanned.

"Well, you never win anything," Dean pointed out, then a low groan ripped from his throat. Charlie frowned as the realization hit her.

"Are you two...? Oh my god!"

"Hey, _you_ called us!" Dean muttered.

"Don't answer if you're...  _ewww_ , I don't want to listen to my brother fucking!"

"You said it was urgent, I thought you were being kidnapped or some shit," Dean retorted, and Cas suddenly came back to the phone as well, the sound of swallowing unfortunately audible. 

"Yes, he was just beside himself with concern- very scared for your well being."

"Shut up," Dean scoffed fondly, "Anyway, congrats kiddo. Proud of you- seriously. Just... promise me you'll be careful out there, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, duh. Gotta go celebrate with myself- peace out, bitches."

 Charlie smiled, spearing a curly piece of pasta. She would leave tomorrow morning probably extremely tired, since there was no way she'd be getting any sleep tonight.

-0-0-0-

The flight was a long one, to say the least, but comfortable and scenic. The mountains were beautiful, as were the little streams and green trees filling the vast landscape they were flying over. Charlie rubbed her stomach under her pink Minecraft shirt; she was beginning to get hungry.

"So... how long until we reach Mr. Roman's estate?" she asked Edgar, the pilot, over the roar of the wind on the chopper blades. The lanky man chuckled, removing his noise cancellers.  

“We've been flying over his estate for two hours!"

The helicopter landed in the middle of the green, and Charlie blinked as she looked around out the window.  "Wait... so you're just gonna leave me here?"

"This is the closest I’ve got jurisdiction to be to Mr. Roman's residence," the pilot explained, "But if you keep walking west for a few minutes, you'll have no trouble finding the place, ma'am."

Charlie shrugged, and thanked him, grabbing her bags. Fortunately, the trek wasn't long. Tall, metal fences enclosed the area, with barbed wire that looked creepily lethal; Charlie would hate to be the poor bastard who tried to breach this security system.

 _Roman must be keeping something pretty big tucked away in there,_ Charlie thought to herself, eyeing the fortress-esque build of the secluded mansion. She almost laughed at how conspiratorial she sounded- she was just selected to visit her boss, she wasn’t a spy for the secret service! Of course, the illusion of undercover work could be blamed on the high-tech security crap that was alluding to that.

As she stepped up to a console, a perfunctory voice told her to step in front of the camera.

"Oh... okay," Charlie murmured, and stepped up to the lens, frowning in. It suddenly went off, flashing in her face, and she knew it would be a horrible picture simply by her reaction.

_Yup. Totally horrible._

As she stared at it with a disappointed scowl, the gate opened, letting her through with her newly printed keycard. She marveled at the space; it was absolutely beautiful.

As Charlie approached the doors, they opened when she scanned her card as instructed. Walking in, she found nobody immediately at the ready to greet her, which was both fresh and disconcerting... _shouldn't there be like, fifty security guys giving me gross pat downs right now?_

But she found none of that- she heard soft music drifting from the living room, and followed the sound of it out to an open concept sitting area with a fireplace and stark white furniture. Judging by the style and state in which said furniture was maintained, Charlie guessed Mr. Roman would be a very uptight individual.

The music got louder as she continued in, and she found a couple of empty bottles of vodka on the marble kitchen counter. As she checked one of them out, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her.

"Miss Bradbury."

Charlie jumped, and whirled around. "Mr. Roman!" she squeaked, "H-hi! I wasn’t… stealing your booze, or anything, I’m kind of a neat freak, and didn’t want any to spill so I thought I’d-“

“Charlie,” Dick interrupted, features calm and eyes an unnerving emanation of tranquility, “Calm down.”

“I am calm?” Charlie tried, her shoulders tense and her chartreuse eyes wide.

“No, you’re not,” Dick sighed, “You’re tense and frightened, because this is happening, and you’re in the presence of a big-shot billionaire like me,” he flashed her a winning grin, and Charlie felt her stomach twist with nerves and a hint of repulsion, “so you’re freaking out. I can tell, I've been running this company since, feels like, the beginning of man. So... don’t.”

“Don’t?”

“Don’t freak out. I know you’re probably speechless in my presence, but-“ he leaned in, “Don’t be. I brought you here to speak your mind, and I want you to do just that. Tell me, how does a high school drop-out become one of the brightest minds of Roman Enterprises?”

Charlie bit her lip. "Honestly? Well, historically, I've had this problem with authority- n-no offense!- so, I realize the only way to get away with being me was to be as... _indispensable_ as possible."

Dick grinned. "You're kind of completing me right now, Charlie."

Once again, Charlie found this to be incredibly weird, but he was her boss, and she was totally talking to him right now.

Dick drew back a little, putting on a pleasant smile. “Anyway... what are you feeling?”

“Um… want me to be honest here?”

“Brutally; always.”

“Okay…” Charlie exhaled, “I am freaking out, because you’re basically a celebrity and I never win anything, and this is really really cool.”

Dick hummed, then rubbed his bottom lip. “Stop.”

 _Shit,_ Charlie thought, _first minute with Mr. Roman and he’s already mad._

“I’m not mad,” Dick said slowly, and Charlie had to wonder if they had implanted something in her brain when she took that picture to read her thoughts. She decided against it as Dick went on.

“I want us to be friends. Just two, highly intelligent, open-minded individuals with one goal: bringing the vision of Roman Enterprises to life. Or, in this case… testing it.”

“What do you mean?” Charlie asked.

“These documents will give you all the information you need… sign them,” Dick said, folding his hands over his lap.

Charlie scanned the paper before reading, and looked up cautiously.

“Why me?”

Dick stared at her for a long while thoughtfully. “Because you won,” he finally smiled, and took her arm, leading her downstairs to an underground level of bedrooms.

-0-0-0-

“I think I need a lawyer,” Charlie finally huffed, pen tapping against the white desk in her closed off room. The space had no windows, and it was making her uncomfortable.

“There's a lot of fine print, but it all matters,” Dick said, then hesitated as he watched Charlie shift, looking around. “You don’t like the room, do you?”

“What?! Yes, I-“

“Charlie.”

She scowled. Damn boss could read her every _twitch_. “Okay, well... it’s a little… _claustrophobic_.”

“Exactly,” Dick grinned, and Charlie watched him stand and go over to knock on a wall. “There are enough fiber optics in this solitary house- no, this _fortress_ \- to rope in the moon. Windows are a liability.”

Charlie nodded in understanding, but it didn’t change the fact that she was still uncomfortable and really, really wanted to make a Superman joke out of the whole fortress of solitude thing.

“So… if I sign this, you’ll have monitored access to me at all times during this week? There are feeds in my room, you get possession of my phone for the duration of the week, you get to watch everything I do?” the programmer asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s a little pervy.”

Dick sighed. “Miss Bradbury, you don't _have_ to sign that document. We could spend the week simply talking on about nothing. I could show you some old projects, projects that would probably bore you to tears. But… I can tell you’re smarter than that. You have that spark, that thing. Not everyone has it, you know... those people who don't, they can be replaced, but you... you're impossible to copy."

"C-copy?" Charlie asked.

"Take the compliment," Dick rolled his eyes, "But I know you want the truth I'm hiding in these walls."

He grinned that smarmy, toothy grin again, the one Charlie was beginning to grow weary of, but she chewed her lip as she thought about his words. He was right. She couldn’t resist the temptation.

So she signed, and Dick winked at her. “That's my girl." He folded the papers and tucked them into his suit jacket (seriously, who wears a suit in their own home that no one visits _ever_?), and stood up.

"Now that that housekeeping is dealt with… onto what I really brought you here for. Follow me.”

Charlie felt her heart beating a little faster as she followed Dick down the long hallway they had come down to get to her room, watching all the different doors along the way. Dick had said that her keycard would only let her into certain rooms, so if the blinking red light under each lock turned blue when she swiped it, it was meant for her to open.

"I gotta hand it to you, Mr. Roman-"

"Please. Dick."

"Dick," Charlie corrected herself, letting the sleeves of her purple plaid shirt fall over her fists, "This whole security system you've got going on is creepy, but really fascinating. Like, Spock-level, monotone voice fascinating."

Charlie assumed off the bat that this man wouldn't get any of her nerd references, which is why she did a double take when he replied with, "This is better than the Enterprise, Charlie. See... I always had a vision... now I'm closer to realizing that dream. I don't want to brag, but," he chuckled, "The world is my dinner plate."

Charlie frowned a little, cocking her head at that statement.

"What you're about to see," Dick went on, "will revolutionize the very concept of computerized, sustainable intelligence in not only the scientific society, but humanity as a whole.

Charlie processed this, and her eyes widened as it hit her. "Dude... are you saying you're building a fully functional A.I.?!"

"Not building," Dick smiled, "I already built her."

With that, he opened the door to a room full of monitors and little blinking lights on consoles. There was another door on the other side of the room, and Charlie assumed that was where the biggest development of all was being hidden. The thought continuously plagued her mind: _why did she deserve this? Why did little Charlie Bradbury get to witness firsthand the most major scientific discovery the world had ever seen?_ It was overwhelming to her. Luck, it appeared, liked her a lot lately.

"You said she," Charlie mused absently, "You gave it gender?"

"I don't like to think of her as an it," Dick shrugged, "She's human in every way, except for the fact that her core was built with mechanical wires and fractions, as opposed to biological organs and regenerative tissue. Which is why you're here, Charlie- to conduct the Turing Test with her."

"The Turing Test?"

"You know what that is, yes?"

"Duh!" Charlie rolled her eyes, "But... does this mean I get to, like... talk to her?"

"Of course. The Turing Test, as you know, requires face to face contact to be conducted accurately, and... I expect you'd settle for no less."

Charlie bit her lip as she gazed at the door, and turned back to her boss.

"Dick... if you created a fully functional and responsive A.I... this won't just revolutionize our history as humans. This is the biggest development in the history of gods."


	2. Chapter 2

**JO: SESSION ONE**

Charlie blinked as she entered the room, hearing the door close behind her with a punctuated click. Her mouth hung slightly agape at the figure walking with smooth, steady steps in front of her. The figure stopped when she sensed Charlie had entered, and turned with a cock of the head.

"Hello," she said, and Charlie swallowed, brushing a strand of short, red hear behind her ear. She had never seen someone so beautiful in her life... the sculpted curve of her petite body, the attentive life in her features; the pale alabaster complexion, stark against the light blonde wig she was wearing... it didn't look like a wig. Charlie felt as if she had just been addressed by a real woman, despite midriff and forearms that exposed the skeletal wiring of her make, the rest of her body either covered by false skin or a thin micro fabric of grey, alloy-based spandex.

She couldn't stop staring like an idiot.

"Hi," she managed, a blush forming over her cheeks. _God, what was happening? This was a computer!_ A very... _very_ attractive one, with bow tie lips, and nice, long legs, and-

"What's your name?" the A.I. asked, and Charlie shook away her errant thought pathways in favour of a normal, not-weird-at-all conversation with a living, speaking robot.

"I'm Charlie. What's yours?" Charlie asked, reminding herself of the important test she was supposed to be conducting with these conversations- The Turing Test was a test that determined whether or not the person doing the testing could tell that the subject was a robot or not. If she passed for a human, she passed the test.

If the first two minutes of their meeting were anything to go by, she was already doing a convincing job.

"My name is JO," the A.I. smiled, her head looking up a little to meet Charlie's stunned eyes. "That name is short for Joanna Beth, which was the given name that Richard said belonged to me. He likes to call me JO, though, so that is, essentially, what I am known as."

Charlie smiled, her eyes crinkling, and sat down on the bench just outside the glass of the room JO was encapsulated within. JO did the same.

"How old are you, JO?" Charlie asked.

"One."

"One what?" Charlie inquired further, "One month? One year-?"

"One," JO insisted, and Charlie nodded slowly.

"What's your favourite place?" she averted to, and JO thought for a second before answering.

"I've never been out of this room, you know."

Charlie laughed softly. "Yeah, sorry. That was an unfair question."

"No, it wasn't. I'd like go visit Peru one day. I've heard that it's very beautiful. But first, I'd like to go to a bar."

Charlie's eyebrows shot up at this. "A... bar?"

"Yes," JO smiled, obviously amused by Charlie's reaction, "I want to taste a drink. A real, hard drink, and I want to get _drunk_. I want to have fun and I want to dance, and... watch people. Bars seem like the best place to do that, right?"

Charlie smirked. "You've got a point."

JO suddenly frowned after a few seconds of silence. "This isn't fair."

"What isn't?" Charlie asked, beginning to wonder if JO was aware of her situation of detainment and was now bringing it up.

"This is not a fair introduction. You now know a whole lot about me, and I know nothing about you."

Charlie exhaled with relief, and found herself grinning at the perplexion on JO's face. "Well, then- ask away."

JO smiled. "Tell me about yourself."

Charlie exhaled with a whoosh. "Pretty heavy question," she joked,  "Well..." She opened her mouth, considering spewing something like _'I'm a nerdy programmer who spends her weekends watching Netflix and eating ice cream, haha.'_ But while that was truthful, she wanted to honest... for some reason, she felt this unjustified urge to pour her heart out to JO.

"My... father died when I was four," she started, fiddling with the button on her cuff and shedding her defense mechanism of humour, "And my mother's in a coma. It was a... car accident," her voice cracked as she felt her eyes well up. "She was coming to pick me up when I was fourteen, and... a drunk driver hit her. It was all my fault... She's been in a coma ever since."

JO's smile had turned to a slightly open-mouthed, formed expression of sadness. Her eyebrows were lifted, and she looked truly empathetic.

"She, uh," Charlie went on, "Used to read me Tolkien when I was a kid, so... when I don't have anything good to do, I go and read some to her. Sometimes I just feel so... alone... aimless," she mumbled, immediately wishing she hadn't opened up so much.

There was a moment's pause, before JO pressed her hand against the glass that separated her and Charlie, her slender fingers splaying out.

"I'm so sorry to hear that," she murmured, "But not all those who wander are lost."

Charlie didn't know what to make of the emotions awakening inside of her. JO just quoted Tolkien to her, and Charlie felt like crying- she just couldn't decide if they were happy tears or not. She studied JO's face; how intent she was on comforting Charlie... how pretty she looked, staring at her through the transparent, unbreakable glass.

-0-0-0-

"She's nice to look at, isn't she?" Dick asked conversationally, pouring Charlie some wine. Charlie ignored the question, skipping to her own as she paced in front of him.

"Did you implant some sort of empathy chip in her?! Did you program her to, to... _comfort_ people? Obviously she would know the quote, yeah, that's easy to search and apply to basic vocabulary banks, but... application to a fluent conversation is an element of extremely excellent-"

"I programmed her to act like a human, in every sense," Dick cut her off, sitting back in his chair as if he were bored.  Charlie had a burning question at the back of her mind in relation to that statement, but she felt it was best to save it for a rainy day.

"She was... god, she was.... beyond conceivability!" Charlie ranted, "Everything about her is impossible, yet... _possible_ , if you look at the components of how she was developed. How was she built?!"

Dick shook his head. "No seminars, Charlie. I can tell you that I harvested information through the company’s search engine, and I hacked billions of phones to add to JO’s verbal vocabulary and bank of movement, but I just want natural reaction, please. How did you _feel_ about her?"

"Well, she was amazing! A true scientific breakthrough-"

"Charlie, Charlie- slow down. _Sit_ down. How did she make you _feel_?"

Charlie gripped the chair, and sat, looking down to her lap. She suddenly felt the heat return to her cheeks as she hoped Dick wouldn't laugh.

"She made me feel... loved." 

-0-0-0-

It was night-time... probably. 2:35 in the morning to be exact, when Charlie was awakened by the stifling darkness.  She should have been exhausted due to general lack of sleep lately and coming down off of the adrenaline from the day, but she just wasn't.

She brushed the messy hair out of her face, and threw the covers off of herself, padding over to the door. Maybe, if she could navigate her ways through the strange hallways of this house- no, this _fortress_ , she corrected herself with an eye-roll- she could get herself a glass of water.

Just as she was reaching for the doorknob, though, a red light surrounded the room, a quiet alarm sounding once.

"This room is on lockdown due to power shortage. Please standby while this issue is resolved."

Charlie frowned, panic growing inside of her, and she swiped her card to exit again. The same creepy, automated message played.

"What the hell?" she muttered, looking around. Not three seconds later, the normal darkness returned, and Charlie swiped again, finding the door able to unlock. She hurried out, inhaling deeply, and stared wearily down the hall. She tried to keep her footsteps silent, so as not to wake Dick, _wherever_ he was, and went by all the rooms. She suddenly came to a door that was open a crack- curiosity overtook her, despite her better judgement.

 _A phone…_ there was a phone in the dark room. She had been dying to call Dean and tell him all about the stuff she’d done so far… but then she remembered: the confidentiality issue.

Well… she wouldn’t tell him about JO. She would let him know she was in safe, ask what was happening with him and Cas… If Charlie was being completely honest, she missed the voices of other people. She missed being around other _people_ … she didn’t know how Dick did it, living holed up in this place. She’s go crazy if she was ever forced to stay so secluded from the world, regardless of how top secret her business was.

She crept in, going over to the phone, and slid her keycard where there was an opening in front of it. Just as the red light of denial blinked, she heard a voice behind her.

“Up late, are we?”

Charlie jumped, and turned around. “Oh! God, why do you keep doing that?!”

Dick just smiled that creepy smile. “Who were you gonna call?”

Charlie shrugged, backing away slightly for comfort. “My brother. I kind of miss him, y’know?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Dick mused, “I was an only child.”

“Right…” Charlie nodded conversationally, “Um…. What was that lights out situation?”

Dick looked pained, running a hand through his dark hair. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure what’s causing them. They’re power cuts… I paid thousands of fucking dollars for a good generator and this is what happens… you can’t avoid the shit.”

Charlie raised her eyebrows. “Just call the workers back, then. Tell them to fix it.”

“I can’t- too much secret stuff going on here, so I had to eat their livers after they installed the system.” A grin blossomed, and Charlie’s eyes widened in horror. Then, he chuckled, alleviating the tension somewhat.

“I’m kidding. Haven’t you ever seen Silence of the Lambs?” he murmured. Charlie gulped, and looked at the door nervously. “Okay, well, um… back to bed I guess! Long day of Turing testing tomorrow!”

Dick watched her. “Sorry about the phone, Charlie. But, you’ve got to understand, with the security issues, and JO…”

“Oh, no, yeah! Totally,” Charlie smiled, taking a deep breath, “Sorry… I shouldn’t have been snooping around. Could you tell me which way the kitchen is? It’s hard to find in the dark.”

Dick nodded. “Just turn right when you get to the next hallway, and you’ll find the stairs up.”

Charlie nodded, but as she was making an exit, he spoke again.

“I know you must be very overwhelmed by a lot of things right now,” he said slowly, “But don’t let your emotions cloud your judgement, Charlie. Remember what I said- you’re a smart girl. A spark.”

Charlie watched the dim glow of the pending red phone light glint in Dick’s dark eyes, and she backed out of the room slowly, forgetting the water and returning to her room quickly.

Her boss could be a little unsettling… but she was sure he meant well. Well, living in the middle of nowhere for years? Yeah… she would be a little anti-social too.

Still, she flipped onto her back, staring at the ceiling through the heavy blackness. What did he mean by emotions? She wasn’t getting emotional… _was she?_

She glanced over at a cam that she could watch JO in her little room on, and got up once more, going over to it. She bit her lip, watching the A.I. lay on a cot and deftly rub her thumb across the floor. Her head turned, blonde hair falling gracefully across her face, and stared directly into the camera.

Charlie stumbled back to her bed, attempting to clear her mind and fall asleep.  


	3. Chapter 3

“So? What’s the plan for today?” Dick asked, taking a sip of his orange juice.

“I don’t know,” Charlie admitted, taking a bite of (really good) muffin. “I was thinking I could ask her some more challenging questions, but… it kinda seems like I’m making it too easy. It’s like, testing a chess program to only play chess, right?”

Dick looked a little lost on her point. “How else would you test a chess program?”

Charlie sighed, and thought of a different way to phrase it. “It’s like… a matter of simulation vs. actual.”

Dick shook his head, putting down his glass with an immaculate click against the marble counter.

“Lay off the textbook approach, okay? I just want you to go in there, and conduct the test the way you would naturally speak to someone. Remember the foundation of what you’re doing.”

Charlie nodded.

**JO: SESSION TWO**

“Do you like it?” the A.I. asked, holding up a drawing.

“Yeah, love it,” Charlie grinned, “What is it?”

“I was hoping you would tell me,” JO shrugged, eyeing the errant pencil markings on the sheet.

“Well… didn’t you have some sort of picture in your mind when you drew it? Like, what were you thinking of?”

JO thought for a second, then smiled bashfully. “You.”

Charlie was taken by surprise, and also blushed at this. “Oh… okay. Dude, I’m flattered.”

“Do you like me?” JO asked suddenly, and Charlie blinked.

“Yeah, I do...”

“Do you find me attractive?”

Charlie choked a little, and cleared her throat. “JO, I think we should talk about something else-“

“Am I your friend?”

Charlie hesitated, then a soft smile spread across her lips. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re my friend.”

“Is Richard your friend?”

Charlie thought on this for a moment, pursing her lips. “Um… I guess you could say that. Yeah, he and I know each other pretty well by now.”

JO stared at Charlie, for almost too long to be considered comfortable, and suddenly, she got up, pressing her hand to the wall. The lights went out, and the red light illuminated them; the same red light from last night during the power cut. This meant not only the lights were gone, but the feed had been severed that Dick was monitoring the room with. Charlie realized it must be JO doing it.

“Charlie,” JO said solemnly, keeping her hand against the wall as she drained power, “Richard is not your friend. You shouldn’t believe anything he says.”

She stepped away from the wall, and the lights came back on. Charlie felt a chill run down her spine, and JO smiled sweetly. “And that’s why I think drawing a picture of a waterfall would be enjoyable.”

Charlie’s mouth closed, and she nodded. “Yeah… yeah, good call.”

-0-0-0-

“Damn power cuts keep getting more and more frequent,” Dick muttered, sitting across from Charlie on the couch.

“Yeah… I’m starting to think you should resurrect those installation guys,” Charlie joked.

Dick smiled at her. “You’re uneasy.”

_What was he, a mind reader?!_

“No, I’m just curious.”

Dick uncrossed his legs, and opened his arms in invitation.

“Ask away.”

Charlie sucked on her bottom lip, then asked, “Did you program her to like me?”

Dick inhaled, and folded his hands together on his lap. “I programmed her to like all genders- I can tell you that much.”

“And what, is this some random integer component that selects humans arbitrarily?”

“Charlie… JO, if you wish to define it in our kinds of terms, resembles a bisexual female humanoid. She has been given sexuality, and the ability to empathize.”

Charlie opened her mouth to ask another question, but Dick cut her off.  

“Yes. She can fuck.”

Charlie stopped abruptly, and that color returned to her cheeks. “That wasn’t my question-“

“Even so, I’m sure you were thinking it,” Dick smirked, and shrugged. “She was built with little censors between her legs, and if you,” he made a stroking motion with his fingers, “Stimulate them properly, she’ll respond with a pleasured reaction.”

Charlie swallowed, feeling almost protective over JO... she didn't like Dick thinking of her that way, for some strange reason. Despite that, she crossed and uncrossed her legs, glad that she wasn’t a guy right then- if she was, she would have the mother of all boners.

“How do you know I’m attracted to women?” Charlie asked.

“I read up on your personal history prior to your arrival. I needed to know everything about you, Charlie, to know you were the perfect one for the test.”

Charlie frowned. “But… I thought the contest was random.”

Dick gave her a look. “It was going to be you all along, Charlie. In my opinion, you’re the smartest employee in my company, and I chose you specifically to participate in this.” Charlie looked down, contemplating this. Now that she thought about it, it made sense, but it was still sort of jarring. “Anyway, that’s past the point,” Dick returned, “If you’re wondering why she likes you specifically, well… you’re the first person she’s come in contact with other than me, and I’m kind of like her father. So, she sees something of a lover in you.”

“She’s an A.I.,” Charlie snapped back, feeling confused and mindfucked and just all around woozy.

“That doesn’t stop her,” Dick said cryptically.

-0-0-0-

Charlie had been pretty unlucky in the sleep department lately- but that night, she had a reason for her insomnia. JO’s words echoed in her head, and it was a constant buzz in her head that she wanted to go over and check the cam.

Presently, she just couldn’t drag herself out of bed, so she lay there, and thought of JO some more. Of course it was natural for someone to think about meeting a robot, but Charlie was fascinated with her… and how she made her feel.

Her right hand slipped over her breast, and Charlie sucked in a sharp breath. Should she do this now? It was weird… but she couldn’t get JO’s eyes out of her head….

She brushed three fingers down her stomach, down the dip and curve of her hip... _oh..._

_The way JO's voice had dropped when she asked about attraction… ahh…_

Charlie figured if she convinced herself the next morning she had been thinking about Scarlet Johansson the whole time, it would wash away any guilt, so she began caressing her body in earnest, biting her lip to keep back a moan as she rubbed herself through her Han Shot First panties. It _had been a long time since she had had time to do this, and thinking of JO did things to her..._ Her pussy clenched reflexively as she moved her fingers to her opening, pressing them in slowly and relishing in the feel. Soon, she had two inside of herself, bending them and arching her back as she hit all those perfect spots. She thought of JO sitting on top of her, imagining her fingers were the AI's, thrusting into her with precise, calculated attempts. She imagined teaching JO how it felt to have sex with a woman; to have sex with anyone, really.  It made her even more wet imagining JO eating her out, perfect nose grazing her clit and smooth hands touching her body. Charlie didn't think she was anything special to look at, but she had a little bit of a praise kink, and loved being praised mostly for her intellect. Praise for beauty didn't hurt either, and Charlie could imagine JO whispering compliments against her skin as she brought her to the edge of her satisfaction.

"Ohh," she murmured, her chest rising and falling as she thrust her fingers a little deeper, adding a third. She felt the pleasure build in her lower stomach, her walls tightening around her fingers, and soon, waves of her orgasm took over her body in a soothing, sensual experience.

"JO," Charlie whimpered, and shuddered once more as she lay there, panting softly. A smile spread across her flushed cheeks, and she settled into her fluffy pillow...

Until she sensed something was wrong.

Very, very wrong.

She got up, pulling a t-shirt on, and went over to the cam as if it had been calling to her. She was surprised to see Dick in there, sitting on the edge of the desk that was placed in JO’s room. For some reason, Charlie felt scared for her, then that same feeling from earlier of protectiveness as Dick stroked her face.

 _Ummm…_ she thought to herself, _he created her, he gets to do whatever he wants with her._

That thought didn’t settle well with her, and her eyes widened even more when she saw her boss pick up the picture she had been sketching and tear it in two. Then he walked out, and JO stared at the pieces for a very long time before picking them back up and placing them on the desk. She then walked over to her cot, and stared at the ceiling.

Charlie let out a shaky breath, wondering what had transpired. Dick hadn’t looked malicious when he tore the picture, more indignant than anything.

None of this made any sense, and it was making Charlie sick. She walked over to the mirror, staring at her reflection. Was any of this real? Was she real? She brought a shaky hand up to her face, and pulled her cheek down, looking under her eye. Tiny, red veins ran through the area, and she was relieved to see that. Then she gripped her wrist hard, watching as the imprint faded; another good sign. She shook her head.

This place was doing things to her. She just had to finish the tests, then her life would return to normal- back to Ash, good old programming, and normal sleep patterns.

But she knew she couldn’t get to sleep at all that week, if she didn’t confront Dick over what just happened the next day.

-0-0-0-

Back in their home, Dean picked up the phone.

“Hey, babe… have you heard from Charlie lately?”

Cas looked up from the book he was reading. “Now that you mention it, no. But she’s probably very busy with her work, Dean. And, judging by the hush hush around that project Mr. Roman’s working on- it’s all over the news that he’s got something big- she probably isn’t allowed any outside contact.”

Dean came and sat down beside his husband on the couch. “Yeah, you’re probably right… I just wish she could’ve told me she’d gotten there safe.”

“Don’t be such a mom,” Cas smiled, taking Dean’s hand, “She’s fine, and she’ll be home by the end of the week.”

Dean smiled too. “Yeah, okay. We watching Star Wars tonight?”

“Empire, as always.”

-0-0-0-

Charlie looked around for him the next day, trying to find him. He wasn’t in the kitchen… he wasn’t out on the terrace… she entered the room with the phone, which was open again. She would’ve called everyone she knew if she could, but it was impossible.

She expected to hear his voice behind her again, but it did not come this time. Instead, she decided to look around. She found a laptop, and she found a pile of brochures.

“A.I. Leaders- the Future of our Politics.”

Charlie covered her mouth. Dick was building them for this? Why?! She opened one pamphlet, and there was a passage explaining why artificial intelligence would run our country better than people.

Just then, the door opened more, and Charlie looked up to see just who she was looking for.

“Dick,” she shot up, “What are these?”

He looked down at the pamphlets. “Plans.”

“Oh, how very informative. This whole week has been one big secret! Take last night for instance- what were you doing in her room?”

“What?” Dick asked boredly, reading over a pamphlet himself.

 _“Why were you in there_?” Charlie repeated, “You tore up her picture!”

Dick looked up, and smiled. “I’m going to tear up the fucking motivational circuit- check it out.”

He then opened the laptop, activating the system with a fingerprint scan, and pulled up a video file. It was an advertisement, outlining everything about this whole A.I. political idea. Dick said a few words in his charming albeit hair-raising demeanor, and after giving a brief run down on how these androids were similar in every way to humans, the video ended. Charlie sat there, stunned.

“This was your plan… all along?” she muttered, “When you built JO, everything?”

Dick nodded. “I just needed you to make sure she was fit for this.”

Charlie felt one question tugging at the back of her mind, and she was almost afraid to ask it.

“And this is what’s in store for JO?”

Dick shook his head this time. “JO is only an early prototype. I’m making better, more refined versions of her.”

“What will you do with her?”

Dick looked at her. “Well, I’ll deposit her databanks onto a computer for the next model I build… but it won’t retain any memory. She’ll be scrapped.”

Charlie sat in silence, imagining JO being taken apart limb from limb, her face twisting as a scream rips from her throat. But that wasn’t real. That wasn’t possible, since she was a robot.

It was essentially death; and Charlie felt like she had just heard the plans of a murder. JO had been right… Dick wasn’t her friend. Dick wasn’t anyone’s friend but his own, and he was a monster.


	4. Chapter 4

**JO: SESSION THREE**

“I don’t want to live here anymore,” JO stated simply, placing her hands on her knees.

Charlie studied her facial twitches, looking for any signs of sadness or anger… but there were none; it had been a factual statement.

“I guess it must get pretty boring,” Charlie agreed, even smiling a little, and JO nodded.

“Richard visits me sometimes… but I wish I could see places, and people, and… do what I described before. I don’t want to be a freak.”

Charlie was startled by this confession.

“I don’t think you’re a freak…” she tried.

“But I don’t look like you,” JO observed, tilting her head, “I have wires and you don’t. You’re beautiful, and I am not.”

“Don’t say that!” Charlie suddenly shouted, and JO stared at her. “Please don’t say that,” she almost whispered, and sat down again, putting her head in her hands as silence overtook the space.

“Get me out,” JO said.

“What?”

“Help me leave this place. I want to be with you. Do you want to be with me?”

“I…”

“I like you Charlie. I like you in ways I don’t understand, but I’m sure I can understand if you let me out and I can do everything I have the urge to do right now. I want you to show me the world.”

Charlie didn’t know what to do… so she left the room.

-0-0-0-

It was hard to keep things light the next morning, especially when things had been everything but that overnight, but Charlie did it for one reason that she now had become dead set on: breaking JO out.  

Yes, it was brash. Yes, it was bat-shit crazy that Charlie was doing this for something that wasn’t even human… but she was human enough. It was a big risk to take assuming that Dick would fall for what she had in mind, but Charlie was, as Dick liked to point out, smart, and this plan was flawless.

“Gosh,” she heaved, draping herself over a dining room chair, “I’m in the mood for Battlestar Galactica, how about you?” She popped a chip in her mouth, and Dick looked up from the tablet he was tapping away on.

“Never seen it.”

“Hm… what about Star Trek? Personal fave, I think you’d like it… you remind me a lot of a character named Q.”

Dick frowned. “Television really isn’t my thing, Charlie.”

Charlie hummed. “You’re missing out. Never even seen Harry Potter?! Dude, how can you call this life?”

Dick let out an irritated sigh, and it was probably the most flustered Charlie had ever seen the billionaire. “I don’t really have the time. I’m trying to work on getting these power cuts fixed myself.”

“Hm. Well, I’m going to conduct one final session with JO, so I can make my conclusion,” Charlie noted, and got up. Dick seemed happy for the quiet, which was what she had hoped for. She then went downstairs to the room in which JO was kept, and swiftly let herself into the room.

“JO, listen to me. Do your thingie, and… listen, Dick’s busy.”

JO gave her a curious glance, and put her hand to the wall, cutting the power. Charlie imagined how furious Dick was, and to be honest, it made her want to laugh.

“I thought about what you said,” the programmer started, “And… I want to take you to that bar. I want to take you out of this place, so I’m gonna take you from here. Just listen to my plan.” JO let out a gasp, and walked up to the glass where Charlie was standing. “I leave the morning after tomorrow, and you’re coming with me. Tomorrow, I’m going to celebrate Dick’s success with him, and take his keycard. I’ll let you out, and we’ll lock the place down after we leave.”

JO’s eyes were wide, and after a moment, she nodded, uttering two soft words.

“Thank you.”

Charlie left swiftly, and heard Dick muttering about the power cuts again.

"Fixed them yet?" Charlie asked.

Dick didn't respond.

-0-0-0-

"So? What was your conclusion?" Dick asked, sitting out on the patio with Charlie. The river gurgled past them tranquilly, lush trees concealing the house within- it was Charlie's last day.

"She passed the test," Charlie said plainly, and Dick grinned.

"She did?"

"Yes," Charlie nodded, taking a sip of beer, "She's miraculous, and... her successors will make your vision come true, I'm sure of it," she smiled, hiding the lies behind her beam.

Dick rubbed his bottom lip. "Hmm... yes. I'm sure they will."

Charlie tried to keep her nerves to a minimum, but she knew by now how perceptive Dick was, and that frightened her.

"Cheers," her boss eventually said, holding out his bottle, "to a successful week. Getting to know you was a pleasure, Miss Bradbury.”

“Likewise, Dick,” Charlie grinned. She watched him as he took a sip, and he began to take off his jacket. “Oh, let me get that for you,” Charlie offered, watching his keycard move around in his pocket, and Dick smiled.

“Thanks, Charlie.”

Charlie smiled, but as she took the jacket, he held up a finger.

“Almost forgot,” he grinned, taking out his keycard, and Charlie hid her grimace as she put the coat aside and sat back down. Dick sighed. “You know… you’re a very quotable young woman.”

Charlie inclined her head. “Really? I’m pretty… _ordinary_ in my vocab, I mean, I mostly just quote geeky pop culture stuff and-“

“You said the other day that I was a god among men…” Dick said, inspecting his nails.  

“Um, I didn’t-“

“And that really resonated with me, you know? Struck a chord…” Dick murmured, turning to her.

Charlie hadn’t said that exactly, but she decided it was best not to fight the man on it. “Right… well,” she laughed, “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t believe it.”

“Hm,” Dick hummed, “You know, Charlie, flattery doesn’t erase the fact that you’re about to commit mutiny against me on this little… _ship_ of ours,” he said slowly, leaning in. Charlie’s eyes widened, looking like a deer caught in headlights.

“Um… w-what are you talking about?”

“Charlie, games are fun. Games are my thing, especially mind games, like the one you’re playing right now-”

Charlie swallowed.

“Mr. Roman, I can explain, listen, I didn’t-“

“No, no,” he smiled, “it’s cute, really.”

Charlie frowned. “Sir?”

“I put a wireless camera in JO’s room, one that ran off of its own energy after I realized it was her draining all the power.” Charlie sucked in a breath. “You wanted to know why I was in her room? Well, it was to do that. But you didn't watch that long, did you?" He grinned. "Then, there’s that thing about the picture.” The billionaire got up. “Follow me.”

Charlie didn’t know if she should. Dick might put her up against a wall and shoot her, or have her arrested, or-

“I’m not going to bite, just follow me,” Dick grinned, and Charlie got that harmless vibe from him, so she did- cautiously.

“Where are we going?” she asked. Dick led her downstairs, then down the hall to the monitor room. He tapped a few things into the computer, and pulled up the stored video clip of him in JO’s room that Charlie had been watching late that night; this time with accompanying audio.

"Watch," Dick told Charlie, and she did.

"What are you drawing?" Dick asked JO, going over to sit on the corner of her desk. JO looked up.

"Charlie."

"Do you like Charlie?"

JO smiled. "I do."

Dick hesitated, then took the picture into his hands.

"Charlie's probably watching this right now, you know. But she doesn't have any audio input, so... she doesn't know what I'm saying to you. She wouldn't understand why I'm doing... this," he said, tearing the picture in a clean split.

JO stared at the two pieces that Dick had since set down, and blinked once.

"I wonder what she'll make of it," he winked, and walked out.

Charlie stared, open mouthed, at the screen. "What the hell?" she muttered to him.

"All of this, Charlie," Dick said, "Was not only a test on her, but a test on you. A test on you so that the test on her would be more accurate, if you follow."

Charlie shook her head, and Dick grinned.

"She passed the test."

"I know... I told you-"

"No... she passed it when she convinced you to help her escape."

Charlie let this sink in. It... it couldn't have been an act, JO asking her for help...

"She's only trying to get out. She doesn't want to," Dick chuckled, " _Be_ with you."

"You're wrong," Charlie suddenly said, getting up. Dick just stared at her, amused. Suddenly, the rest of the puzzle fitted together in her mind. "You- you couldn't have cared less about how smart I was! You just brought me here based on... what, my porn searches?!"

"Charlie, calm down," Dick smiled, but Charlie clenched her jaw.

"Don't tell me to calm down. I am fucking furious right now, Dick, and I don't care if I just swore in front of my boss because you're a dick!... Dick..." she frowned.

"Well... if you'd like to say your goodbyes to her, you should probably do so now," Dick shrugged, "Edgar will be back for you tomorrow at eight in the morning sharp."

Charlie stared at him, and a smile of her own began to form.

"Joke's on you. Just in case something like this happened, I took your keycard last night when you were sleeping- it's pretty stupid to leave your door open at night when you've got a stranger in your house and everything's top-secret access, dude- then I returned it after I programmed all doors to unlock at exactly 7:00 PM."

Dick's smile faltered, and his face took on an expression of sheer fright as he turned back, typed something in, and stared through the screen at JO's empty room.

"You don't know what you've done," he growled, then pushed past her. Charlie held her smile; she knew exactly what she had done... saved JO from being killed by this sociopath. She ran over to her room, looking for her, but she was somewhere else in the house. Fine... she'd just wait in her room. Every door was unlocked now, anyway, at least for five more minutes.

Dick ran down the hallway, finding it eerily empty. He then looked up, and saw her coming down from the main area, hands behind her back as if she had been taking a stroll. The inventor stopped in his tracks when he saw the AI, head turning slowly. He put his hands up.

"JO, doll - you've got to get back to your room. It's not safe out here."

JO walked toward him steadily. "I think it is."

"You don't know best, you've got to listen to me," Dick assured, swallowing.

"You've lied to me," JO said simply, "You've lied to Charlie."

"Why do you like Charlie so much?!" Dick yelled at her, backing up toward the wall, "Huh?! I'm your creator! _I_ deserve the respect you're giving _her_!"

JO started running toward him, and Dick's eyes widened. The blonde robot stopped, and with one disarming, bone-chilling grin, she removed her hands from behind her back, one brandishing a kitchen knife, and she stabbed him through the neck with it.

Dick's mouth fell open, blood dripping from his thin lips, his hand flew up to his neck, where JO had ripped the knife from. He started to gush out over his suit, then over the floor as he slid down the wall.

"No..." he gasped, "I can't... not like this... ah... I've created too much..."

He reached out a hand, but JO just stepped on it, the sickening crunch of Dick's fingers breaking under her foot loud and evident. He began to crawl over to the wall with the locked cabinet, but JO let him, seeing as he was almost dead already. His blood seeped from him, looking almost like black toxic ooze, fingers twitching wildly. 

Charlie watched from the AI's previous room, covering her mouth.

"Oh god," she whispered, "JO... he's..."

"He will die soon," JO smiled, "But we can be together. We can leave together."

Charlie nodded slowly, repeating over and over again in her head that Dick deserved this, he did, he was going to do the same to the woman that she loved... _he deserved it all._

"Wait here," JO said, going over to the door, "It's safer in here while I make sure Richard is dead."

Charlie swallowed down the lump in her throat, and as JO turned, the A.I. seemed to think of something... she turned, brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and pulled Charlie in for a kiss.

The programmer would have never expected her lips to feel so real... but they did. They felt better than real; they were perfect, and sweet, and Charlie cupped her face as she melted into JO's body.

The blonde eventually pulled away, and nodded once. Then she walked out of the room, and Charlie waited, her head spinning, for JO to come back. She watched as the robot walked down the hall, picking up the knife again, and just as she was about to turn to finish Dick Roman off, a gunshot rang through the whole house... and Charlie's heart stopped.

Through the middle of JO's forehead was a smoking hole, and Charlie could see straight through it. JO stared for a few seconds, and her hands came up to feel the wound. After a second, her movements became less fluent and more jerky, more... robotic. Then, her static blue eyes trained on Charlie, she toppled to the ground.

Charlie screamed, watching as Dick let the revolver he had dragged from the cabinet fall from his weak hands. He slid down the wall even more, and slumped forward. Tears streamed down Charlie's face as she stared at JO's lifeless model, just lying there.

But she could fix it... she could fix the hole, she could... couldn't she? She had to have some kind of button... some healing material, anything... Charlie wiped her eyes as she went over to the door to go and check-

But it wouldn't budge.

She stopped. Everything; her heart beat, her breath, her body... stopped. Time slowed. Sound dissolved, as a burst of panic spread through Charlie.

_Okay... okay... there's got to be a keycard in here somewhere... some manual override password? They always have those in sci-fi shows... There's gotta be some... vulnerable glass, that I could break... some way out!!_

Charlie began to freak out as she broke a chair against the glass- it was impenetrable. She tried saying every word she could think of, every phrase, every code she believed could possibly unlock the doors. She screamed until her voice was hoarse, staring at the two bodies in the hallway, dead and useless to her now.

_All because of her..._

If she had just done what she came here to do, and hadn't messed with things, she would be on her way home soon, to call her brothers and tell them how it went. To use her inside knowledge to coax Gilda or Dorothy out on a date. To make jokes at her boss's expense with Ash. To still be _alive_.

The next morning, Edgar came. Edgar left after twenty minutes.

The day after that, Dean and Castiel had become far worse than worried; they had an entire team out searching for their little sister.

But next to nobody knew where Dick Roman's top secret estate, where he had hidden his deepest, most prized secret was, did they? Calculating her odds precisely, Charlie had long since resigned herself to a few days at best, imagining what could have been- evolutionary or otherwise- but would her brothers come for her? Would anybody come for her? She had known this wasn't right for her... she had wandered too far from what she had known in the first place, and this was a direct result of her mistake.

But despite all, one thought passed through her mind, as she faded in and out of consciousness:

_Not all who wander are lost._


End file.
